<DOC>
[DOCID: f:pn200224o.wais]

 
MAPLE CREEK MINING, INC.
PENN 2002-24-C
January 15, 2002


        FEDERAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION

               OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES
                      2 SKYLINE, Suite 1000
                       5203 LEESBURG PIKE
                  FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA  22041


                        January 15, 2002

UNITED MINE WORKERS OF AMERICA  : COMPENSATION PROCEEDING
   LOCAL 1248, Dist. 2,         :
   on behalf of miners,         :
               Complainant      : Docket No. PENN 2002-24-C
                                :
          v.                    : Maple Creek Mine
                                :
MAPLE CREEK MINING, INC.,       : Mine ID 36-00970
               Respondent       :

                              ORDER

     By Motion to Dismiss filed on December 26, 2001, Maple Creek
Mining,  Incorporated  ("Maple  Creek"),  seeks  dismissal of the
United  Mine  Workers'  ("UMWA")  Complaint  for Compensation  as
untimely filed.  The Complaint, filed November  28,  2001,  seeks
compensation  of  affected  miners  for  the period of August 28,
2001,  through  October  8, 2001.  Under Commission  Rules,  "[a]
complaint for compensation  under  section  111  of  the  Act, 30
U.S.C. 821, shall be filed within 90 days after the beginning  of
the  period during which the complainants are idled or would have
been idled by the order that gives rise to the claim."  29 C.F.R.
§ 2700.35.   The  deadline  for filing was November 26, 2001, two
days  earlier  than the Complaint  was  filed.   UMWA  filed  its
Response to Motion  to  Dismiss  on  December 26, 2001, asserting
that the late filing was due to miscalculation of the deadline.

     The Commission has entertained late  filings  upon a showing
of good cause.  See, e.g., Original Sixteen to One Mine, Inc., 23
FMSHRC  1217  (November  2001).   Moreover, pleadings of  pro  se
litigants have always been held to  less stringent standards than
pleadings drafted by attorneys.  Id.  at 1218; Rostosky Coal Co.,
21 FMSHRC 1071, 1072 (October 1999).  UMWA  has  shown good cause
for its failure to meet the filing deadline, especially  in light
of  having  filed  the  Complaint  three months subsequent to the
underlying order, on the same day of the month.

     Accordingly,  Maple  Creek's Motion  to  Dismiss  is  hereby
Denied, and the hearing in  this  matter  shall  be  scheduled by
separate Order.


                              Jacqueline R. Bulluck

                              Administrative Law Judge
Distribution:

Leon J. Moscalink Jr., Chairman, Mine Health & Safety  Committee,
Local  Union  1248,  UMWA,  609  Keystone Street, Greensburg,  PA
15601-4329

Marco M. Rajkovich Jr., Esq., Melanie J. Kilpatrick, Esq., Wyatt,
Tarrant & Combs, LLP, 1700 Lexington Financial Center, Lexington,
KY 40507

nt